As a Pagan and a naturist, I tend to see things a bit differently. I have been reading some very interesting blogs and posts lately and It got me wondering.

Is a new world view really possible?

I don’t think many people would argue that the world is a bit broken. The only ones that may not think so are the rich who have everything they want. The vast majority of people struggle each day just to get by. It isn’t just economic either.

Since I’m a nudist, I’ll address nudity.

We live in a time that is an absolute paradox. One the one hand you can hardly watch an ad on TV that doesn’t have sex in it. Toilet paper ads might as well have scantily clad young females selling their brand of TP.

Movies and television shows are full of sex and partial, if not full, nudity. In this day and age, Mary Poppins would be topless!

However, high school locker rooms now have partitions so that student don’t have to see each other naked. Gyms and fitness centers rarely have people of the same gender showering together. Nudity in the locker room is a thing of the past. We are so body shamed that we can’t stand the idea of seeing or being seen. A child can’t play naked in the sprinkler without someone claiming that it is child pornography.

Lately, a beach that has been known as a clothing optional or nudist beach was closed down in New York. The same people that think nude sunbathing to be a perverted activity sit in front of their televisions and watch surgically enhanced actresses flaunt their bodies in clearly sexual scenes. They think nothing of it. Is this right?

As a Pagan, I will address spirituality.

It seems that the major religions have gone amok! If they aren’t outright killing each other, they are verbally abusing anyone who does not subscribe to their particular way of thinking. The religious right, no matter what religion, voices loud and clear what they think. It doesn’t matter that it harms others. It doesn’t matter that it may kill others. It is just about gaining power for their particular brand of God.

As a vegan/vegetarian I will address food.

Last week, my son and daughter-in-law applied for a program here in the US called WIC. It is supposed to help young women with children feed their children. You are given coupons to buy certain items of food. My son’a family is vegan and they found that WIC served them little good. The meat coupon was no good, the dairy coupon was no good, they couldn’t buy alternative milk unless they had a note from their Doctor stating their child was allergic to cow’s milk. They were give a coupon for six dollars worth of vegetables a month.

Now you don’t have to be vegetarian to know that we all should eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. We know that we should not eat as much meat as we do. Everyone knows the first thing your Doctor will tell you if your cholesterol is too high is to cut back on meat. So who funds the WIC program? Do you suppose it is the Meat and Dairy Association or does the program just not have a nutritionist on staff?

It is poor people that go to places like WIC for help and these same poor people are being given a diet that is unhealthy for them. Why? Do we purposely keep them eating at fast food places so that they will be sick and weak?

The economy.

I read a post by Nimue Brown today talking about the way she sees things in her country, England. I agreed with most of what she said except for one small point. She said that,”The more pressure you put on the poorest in society, the less economically active they become.” Now I know what she meant when she said it, but there is a point when the poor become economically active.

They revolt. That’s right, they fight back.. They drag the rich from their carriage or limo. The revolution drags the rich down from their lofty thrones and gives a level playing field again, sort of. Pick any revolution, French, American, Russian, and it’s the same story. The poor get fed up and do something about it.

World view?

Now to the point! Is it possible to change our world view before it becomes necessary for bloodshed? Can we come to a point where we view the human body as something beautiful and not to be exploited? Can we celebrate nudity and sex as something good and not something that is titillating and a commercial thing?

Is it possible to treat food as something that makes us healthy and not somthing that makes us sick. Can we refuse the fast food industry, the agribusiness industry, and the ads that tout unhealthy foods and eat what we should?

Is it possible to keep a capitalist economy that is not abusive? Can we learn to buy and sell goods that are of good quality and yet not turn it into an “us and them” economy?

I think it is possible, but it won’t be easy. I think it takes work and dedication to an ideal that is reachable, if we really want it.

6 Responses to Is A New World View Really Possible?

Along the subject of ‘the media’ and nudity, my wife and I usually set the DVR and watch “Live with Kelly and Michael” each evening. (The show airs in the morning). Ms. Ripa has such low self-esteem and body image issues. Just yesterday, she was commenting on showering at the gym while wearing her bra and panties. The two of them were also discussing ‘privacy issues’ because of smartphones and the ability to take photographs in locker rooms. “I’d pay to see YOUR picture!”, she says to Michael. Sad.

And another show yesterday, Anderson Cooper’s syndicated talk-show, featured only a few fleeting moments concerning the very popular :”Naked Vegan Cooking” blog. Cooper and his co-host laughed at the idea and made it quite clear they were grossed out and concerned over the ‘health and cleanliness issues’ concerned with it. Instead of offering an open-minded report on the issue, they both lowered it to their standards.

We each need to live our daily life the best we can. I try to follow the mantra of the late Paul Penhallow, who wrote:
“Accept Yourself. Respect Others. Live Simply. Relax Daily.”

Wow, this is an easy one! The answer to all of the above is…NO!
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As much as we ‘good liberals’ (must be liberal; we think AND care!) are supposed to laugh at the suggestion of Rome falling partly due to social and ‘moral’ decay, as our country (and much of the world) becomes more tolerant of behavior and activities formerly considered to be anti-social, the more people partake of them and that scares one helluva lot of people who prefer things to be more easily fitted into their concept of ‘morality’.
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At the same time, as the world economy continues down the path to total meltdown and the future becomes more tentative, society, in the form of religious fundamentalists, is becoming more conservative and reactionary in response to the perceived ‘attack’ by those who threaten their safe and comfortable (if unrealistic and superstitious) worldview.
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So as you say, that leaves us with unrestrained licentiousness on the one hand, and forceful resistance to these ‘anti-god’ activities whenever possible on the other. In our case, nudists are relatively defenseless whereas gays, the motion picture and television industries, and many ‘alternate lifestyle’ minorities currently have the blessing of the powers that be or powerful organizations representing them plus outward social acceptance and the Law on their side.
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Historically, when the poop finally hits the fan any progress made towards true social equality is the first thing to go as folks gather together in like-minded groups for self-defense and go after the weakest ‘threat’. Right now nude beaches are easy targets which no one of consequence will defend. Later, they’ll go after the gays, and the Jews, and…
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Hmm, sound familiar? Frightened people can do terrible things, and there are more frightened people now than ever before in history. More targets, too.
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Sadly, the answer to all the above is no.

Your post is interesting, and it’s very much along the lines of what I’ve been thinking about lately. The glass metaphor is a good example of what’s been going on in my mind – it’s half full or half empty.

The half empty part of me sees people becoming little more than indentured servants, forced to work back their debt for a pittance, for the hope that they’ll live long enough to enjoy retirement without debt. They’re raised to believe they’re not good enough, in any way, but especially in looks. I never really noticed it when I was younger, but now I see it everywhere. Everything says you can be better. And we’re desperate enough to believe we are not the best that is possible. Never the best.

The other part of me sees it half full. I see the people that have moved on, are aware of more than just money or our everyday lives. They see beyond what’s popularly called “first world problems.” The material no longer matters. Looks don’t matter. That idea of not being the best possible “you” takes on a new meaning. It’s not about being better at everything, but about being a better human being. Being a better species. It’s about growth, about ascending the mundane.

I’m also a writer, and I’ve noticed a lot of things about people (I do have a minor in sociocultural anthropology, which means I like to “people watch”). Life itself is not complicated. It never really was. It’s humanity that makes it complicated. Why? Because of drama. How much of us love a good story? And what really makes a story? Essentially: drama. Put people in a situation and watch them squirm and crawl and curse their way out. That’s the life we find interesting. If you talk about a person that just spent their lives without any real struggles…well, no one is going to read that.

But there is always a trend in writing, of characters becoming more than just an average human. About rising up. We all desperately want that, to be more than what we are. To go beyond the present and reach our potential. This is what gives me hope that people will change for the better.

We’ve repeated history so often, since we created “society.” I’m hoping we’ve reached the point that we’ll finally learn from what went wrong all those times before and fix this. Whatever that means. Do I think Capitalism will survive? In a way. Not in its present state. It can’t. We’ve proven the limits of Capitalism as we currently see it. I hope we find a new way. Keep improving upon the old until we finally find something that works. That’s how we grow, isn’t it? Trying again and again until we fix the problem.

I agree with the half full bit. I mean I agree with all of it, but I can relate to what you said about the half full. That is what gives me hope that we can do this. I see people changing in that direction. They are the minority, for sure, but they are out there!